Alzheimer disease is by far the most common cause of dementia in aging persons The disease symptoms are identical to other forms of senile dementia and diagnosis had been possible only at autopsy by the detection of protein clusters called amyloid plaques in the cerebrum The disease is multifactorial and inheritance patterns are complex Some forms of familial Alzheimer disease appear to be inherited as autosomal dominant traits while others are recessive Spontaneous Alzheimer disease also can occur in the absence of inherited factors Mutations in at least four genes have been linked to Alzheimer disease One of these is the amyloid precursor protein APP gene which encodes the b amyloid peptide found in the cerebral plaques of Alzheimer patients The function of APP is not yet known but certain APP point mutations are associated with inheritance of late onset Alzheimer disease in some families Two examples which can be detected by RFLP analysis are the codon 693 Glutamic acid to Glycine mutation and the codon 717 Valine to Isoleucine mutation The 693 mutation results in the loss of a MboII site while the 717 mutation results in the gain of a BclI site Case A Martha age 71 has been exhibiting increasingly severe symptoms of senile dementia and has been hospitalized for testing She is in good health otherwise Her three children Sam age 43 Joan age 41 and Robert age 38 want to find out the cause of the dementia and determine the prognosis for Martha s future condition They are also concerned that Martha may have a form of familial Alzheimers disease and want to know if they are at risk The physician decides initially to test Martha for two mutations 693 Gly and 717 Ile in the amyloid precursor protein APP gene which are associated with inherited Alzheimer disease DNA samples Martha mother Sam son Joan daughter Robert son Control normal APP gene Control with 693 mutation Control with 717 mutation To test for the 693 Gly mutation DNA was digested with MboII and a Southern blot was performed using the APP probe To test for the 717 Ile mutation the DNA was digested with BclI and then the APP probe was used Compare the test samples to the control samples and use the results to determine the genotype of each individual 1 Does Martha have either of these two APP mutations 2 Did any of Martha s children inherit an APP mutation 3 What conclusions can you draw regarding Martha s diagnosis 4 What can you tell Martha s children about their risk for Alzheimer disease 5 What issues are raised by this type of testing Resulting BcII Southern Blot Resulting MboII Southern Blot